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I empathize with your frustration, I really do. One other trick that sometimes worked for no reason I understand, is offering food on a different plate. This has worked for both Sissy and Chancy. I'd just put a bite or two on a small plate and offer that. If they eat, then put another bite or two on the plate. It's painstaking, but for whatever reason, the novelty of the plate piqued their interest when they'd not touch the same food from a bowl. : With Sissy, I'd gotten to the point of dipping my fingers in the baby food and letting her lick the food off. She wouldn't touch it any other way...

Ten days later, there's no anesthesia left in her system. Do you give her a bedtime meal? Sometimes hounds can get a sour stomach just from it being too empty. Especially if she's on any post-op meds...

At her age, and especially if she's losing weight, I'd be offering her anything her little heart desires. To put weight on Sissy (the pickiest eater I've ever had), she had a daily breakfast of meatballs (aka satin balls, or fatballs). The recipe has many variations, but is similar to the above (beef, molasses, eggs, gelatin, oats, etc). But I formed them into balls and froze them raw, thawing as necessary to feed. When Sissy fell ill, I was offering her anything and everything. I know some of the things I gave her upset her intestines a bit, but in her case, it was more important to get something in her, and worry about the consequences later. That's a judgement call for you to make. That said, I had a fair amount of success with baby food, meat flavors. I've also fed eggs (prepared various ways) chicken, bacon, braunschweiger, cheeses, anything that came to mind... When she stopped eating anything solid at all, I used an oral syringe to feed her vanilla Ensure. She actually seemed to like that, more than I'd thought she would. My Chancy's been feeling a bit off lately, and doesn't always want to eat. She has a weakness for soft white bread, so if she eschews her normal meal, I give her a "sandwich" which is a hotdog bun and a pile of sliced lunchmeat, all shredded into bite-size bits. So far she's never turned that down, though she's decided she prefers I "hold the cheese, please." I don't like to let her skip a meal, because without food, her meds will upset her stomach.

Yes, Ensure is okay. Just not the chocolate flavor, of course.

Thank you for so vividly sharing his life with us via your fond memories. I'm very sorry for your loss.

I'd have a vet look him over, probably schedule another dental if he's healthy enough for anesthesia. Some vets dentals are better than others. There's one vet (who shall remain nameless) our group uses whom I believe charges us for dentals but doesn't actually do squat. I've seen dogs come from their dentals from this place who come out looking precisely as bad as they came in. And the "dental vaccine" is still in research phase, I think... Also, if he'll let you play with his mouth, I'd start a regimen of daily toothbrushing with enzymatic doggie toothpaste. His gums may bleed a bit at first, but be gentle and consistent, and his breath should improve significantly. Of course that's assuming it's the bad teeth causing the breath...

Aww, he's gorgeous! Welcome to Greytalk! :

My Marla is a compulsive bed-licker. For her, it seems very much like the comfort kids get from sucking their thumb. She goes almost into a trance-like state when she's licking: eyes half-lidded, lickalickalicka... She'll do it for stretches of ten minutes or so, leaving a large wet spot on her bed. It's harmless, just a little strange.

We arrived home from our Grapehounds excursion on Wednesday evening. The trip went well, and Chancy held up about as well as we could have hoped for. She spent the hotter parts of the days in the cabin's AC with either Tip or Marla keeping her company. She didn't get to visit many wineries, but she had her heart's content of car rides over the past week. Her appetite is still a bit touchy. She's lost her taste for smoothies for the past few days, but has regained an occasional zeal for her old kibble mixture. When she's not in the mood for that either, I give her a sandwich. She LOVES bread (it's the only thing she's ever stolen from the counter), and who doesn't like lunch meat? So yesterday and today for breakfast, Chancy has had a salami and turkey sammich on a potato-bread bun, no mayo and hold the cheese please. : (she's decided she doesn't care for cheese lately either. ) I figure she need something in her belly before I give her meds, so a sandwich is better than nothing. Last night was a very restless night. It was a little stuffy in the bedroom, and Chancy couldn't seem to get comfortable. Breathing laboriously and swapping beds frequently. Neither of us slept well. She seemed a little better this morning on our walk, as it was cooler and less humid than yesterday. Her tummy still seems a bit swollen to me, usually worse later in the day. I intend to call the vet and give him an update, see if he thinks we should change any meds. Maybe discuss the tieback surgery again... That's the update for now. My tough ol' Tigerdog is still hanging in there.

I'm just seeing this sad news now. I'm so so sorry for the loss of your absolutely gorgeous boy.

Chancy's doing fine, hanging in there. It's been very humid again, so our outside-time has been minimal, much to her dismay. But when she's cool & calm, she breathes relatively well. I don't know if the heart meds are doing anything. I'm told that if the heart is affecting the spleen size, it'll be a week or two on the meds before I might notice a change in her tummy swelling. Poor ol' gal, I can tell it's uncomfortable for her. We're still planning to do our road trip, leaving tomorrow morning.

Chancy had a better night last night. She still got up once or twice to swap beds with the other pups, but that's not really unusual here. She certainly seemed to breathe a bit more easily. Her tummy seems the same so far. Still enlarged and firm. Of course something had to keep me awake, so now something's up with Marla. She paced the floor for a long while during the night. I was so wiped out and tired from stressing about Chancy and fending off a cold, I finally made hubby get up and try to get Marla to relax. Not sure what's going on there, as she seems to be fine, but just didn't want to lay down. I manipulated her legs, palpated her tummy, rubbed her back... no reactions. : Oy. It's always something, right? I'm going to choose to not freak out about Marla. Yet.

Chancy's heart is "slightly" enlarged. We have started her on Enalapril for that, and aminophylline to try and help her breathing a bit. Vet said that med won't help the LP, but might help open her bronchial passages a bit, making it a little easier for her to breathe. The vet asked us to call him with an update on Monday. I do like this guy. Now I'll go read up on those meds... after I have a nap. Stupid sore throat...

Chancy had another restless night last night. She was wheezing loudly (LP) and couldn't seem to find a comfortable position. I gave her another Previcox at about 1:30am and she seemed to settle after that. This morning I really had to coax her to eat her smoothie. That may have been because hubby had tried offering it to her unblended first. She did eventually eat all of her meal though. Hubby is taking her for the chest xray in 15 minutes, as I have to host my M&G this morning. I'm not sure what to hope for right now. Clear xrays which would mean her heart and lungs are good but we'd still have no answer as to what's wrong, or finding something so we can actually start addressing the problem... Oh, and now I have a sore throat. Figures.

I would bring him. I'd say let him come along to the wineries as long as he's perky, and when he seems tired, bring him back to your room (assuming it's okay with your hosts) for rest breaks. That's what I'm planning to do with our senior gal Chancy. Leaving him home with your daughter would be fine I'm sure, but the lack of transport if he needed to go to the vet would make me a nervous wreck. There are vets in the area at Grapehounds, I saw some info on their website if I recall...

Holy crow what a CUTE little face! Thanks for the info, I'll read up...

Oh I'm so so sorry. I started to type something earlier, but just couldn't find the words. How terribly sad and frightening. I'm sorry for your loss.

The vet felt that possibly an enlarged/compromised heart could cause "congestion" of the spleen, or something along those lines. To be honest I really couldn't follow everything he said after "It's not cancer..." If it is a heart problem causing the enlarged spleen, it may be medically treatable without other surgery. I'd love to avoid surgery on my ol' gal if possible.

IT'S NOT CANCER!!!!!!! I just got a call from our vet who was as shocked as I that our results came back so quickly... All samples were cancer-free! There is still clearly something going on, but as long as it's not cancer, I'm so freaking relieved I can barely type... Chancy's going in for a chest xray tomorrow, so they can evaluate her heart and lungs. It's possible that a heart problem could be causing the splenic enlargement. I don't recall the details word for word of his explanation/theory, because my brain was busy screaming NOTCANCERNOTCANCERNOTCANCER... Chancy's not out of the woods, but at least there might be a way out... Thank you all for your positive thoughts. It's far too easy for me to drown in my own gloom at times like this. Thank you all for helping keep me afloat.

Well, here's the sort of mixed-bag good news: We will go on the Grapehounds trip. I called the oncology dept at the U (I'm pretty sure my vet doesn't do chemo, so we'd end up at the U) and explained our situation, asking a lot of "ifs." If it is lymphoma, and if she is a candidate for chemo, how soon would we be able to get in for a consult and first treatment? Their first opening is August 1st. Which means other than pain management, there's nothing we can do for Chancy before then.. if it is lymphoma. This means I see no good reason to not go on the trip. Unless Monday's results turn out to be something other than cancer... But at least for now, I feel much better about taking Chancy on this trip. I'll just have to make a detailed list of E-vets along the way, just in case.

Chancy was pretty spunky after we got home yesterday. I think the ice cream really cheered her up. But she had a restless night filled with much panting and readjusting her position. I had given her some melatonin before bedtime, but possibly it was too early to hold her through the night. At about 3:30am I gave her some Previcox our vet had prescribed at my request (asked for an alternative to Rimadyl to spare Chancy's liver as much as possible). I don't know if that actually helped her settle down, or if I was just too tired by then to continue noticing... Needless to say, none of us slept very well. But it was a nice cool morning (finally!) so we walked our old route of about eight blocks. It was slow going, but thoroughly enjoyable. I think she was expecting to go to work with me again today, as she pranced and gave me her "Crazy Paw" and her gummy smile as I was getting ready to leave. Sorry honey, not today. We'll lounge on the grass later this afternoon. Thank you all again, for continuing to think of my sweet ChancyFancy. She's just the gentlest soul on Earth, and I hope to spare her any suffering if I can...

Chancy was soooo well-behaved during the ultrasound, not that I expected any less. They let me help hold her and watch the procedure, which I very much appreciated, even though I can't make heads or tails of those ultrasound images. (frankly I've never seen the baby in any baby ultrasound images either, nor can I see the "images" in those 3D hidden pictures either. I think it's all a big conspiracy to frustrate me. ) Anyway, I helped hold her legs, keeping her straight up on her back while a tech held her front end. The tech was in love with Chancy within minutes. She cradled Chancy's head and slathered smooches on Chancy's schnoot and rubbed her fuzzy chest the whole time. Chancy withstood the ultrasound and even the needle biopsy with perfect aplomb. My brave gentle tigerdog.

Donna, thank you for your experience. I may be contacting you for more details.

Oh I'm so sorry. I'm facing a probable lymphoma diagnosis as well with my 12.5 yo Chancy. I hope you have many many wonderful days left together.

Ultrasound is done. Spleen is enlarged, which we already knew. There were several small areas of "density" in her liver. They did a needle biopsy of her spleen. The specialist, who prefaced his statement with "I'm not a cytologist..." said he saw "a lot of funky looking cells" and said he strongly suspects lymphoma. It will be Monday before I get a confirmation. We were planning to leave Wednesday for our road trip. I'm somewhat inclined currently to continue planning this trip. If it is lymphoma, it has likely already metastasized elsewhee, but if it's early enough, she might be a candidate for chemo. I wonder how much time chemo typically buys... I don't recall much from the oncologist meeting for Sissy last year. She had been too far along by the time we figured out what was wrong to be eligible for treatment. After running all over town, first to the ultrasound, then to our regular vet to drop off cell slides, I figured Chancy deserved a special treat for being such an exceptionally good girl. We stopped at DQ and shared some french fries and she got her own bowl of vanilla soft serve. : We picnicked together in the back of the van: